March DWJ reading so far

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It may not seem like I've done much March Magics reading, but I have in fact -- in the spirit of reading the favorites -- read two and a bit DWJ novels.


I needed to read Homeward Bounders all of a sudden because one of the kids had a phone catastrophe and my husband pretty much said "As to that..." and produced a replacement phone out of thin air.  It was a pretty impressive trenchcoat effect moment.  I adore Homeward Bounders, it's such a strange story and so compelling and tragic, yet of course has DWJ's humor and tendency to drop deep thought grenades on the reader (as in, you don't see them for a while and then *boom* -- in fact, I hereby declare that to be a new technical term.  Deep Thought Grenades.). 

Homeward Bounders is what you get when you put multiverse theory, Greek mythology, and Dungeons & Dragons together in a blender, and add a street-smart Victorian urchin to the mix.


I also picked Hexwood from my DWJ shelf.  I love Hexwood for its bizarre complexity; I suppose she would have had to make extensive notes for the story structure, and I wonder if it would be possible to diagram it out somehow?  It's a daunting prospect.  I have to figure out some of it anew each time I read it, what with everybody having at least two identities, and those in deliberate contrast with each other.  Absolutely everything is juxtaposed with its opposite: a galactic empire with a medieval fantasy landscape, a super-intelligent computer with the ancient primeval forest, legendary heroes with futuristic tyrants....even Fire and Hemlock might not be quite this pretzel-like!


Speaking of which, Fire and Hemlock is what I'm reading now, though I'm not very far in yet.  And I need to start Howl's Moving Castle if I'm going to write a post for the right day!

Comments

  1. Kristen M.March 23, 2019 at 1:13 PM

    I haven't been writing up all of my DWJ and Pratchett reads either and I'm the host! The problem is that I had some major issues with Enchanted Glass when I reread it this time. I absolutely loved it before so it was distressing to have some of the problematic things stand out to me this time. Right now I'm reading Year of the Griffin (after a reread of Derk) and becoming contented again. :)

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  2. Jenny @ Reading the EndMarch 24, 2019 at 4:28 PM

    Deep Thought Grenades is so so real, that's exactly what DWJ books do! And what's weird is that nothing about the writing changes, it's just that I get older and realize how fundamentally true and accurate the things she said in her books were. It's so lovely to age with these books because they keep seeming to grow with me, even though objectively I know I'm the only one doing the growing.

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  3. LoryMarch 24, 2019 at 6:41 PM

    I also love the term "Deep Thought Grenades." Homeward Bounders is a classic example. That ending...

    I've been hankering to reread Hexwood lately though I didn't get to it yet. My books are mostly in boxes at the moment so it's hard to lay my hands on the one I want.

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